Many people take up golf and think they can play well from the outset.
Golf is a highly technical game that can take years to master yet we all expect to be playing a lot better than we do in a short space of time.
We expect to play consistently well with little or no practice, which is very strange because we would never expect that from most other sports.
All sports require skill, and none more encompassing than golf where a top round needs consistently good play on many holes and the right state of mind to allow that to occur.
Beginners luck is precisely that and unlikely to return to the golfer who doesn't put the time and the effort in to play regularly, practice regularly and learn from the professionals on the golf course and from the best books, DVD's and videos.
Taking shortcuts will land you in the bunker or the water and that is a fast way to put a dampener on your game.
The better your performance the more fun a round of golf will be as with any sport, and the only way that will happen is by applying all of the above recommendations to improve your levels of skill.
Where finances are a problem there are some excellent resources available offering instructions from the best golf pros in the world.
Most of this information is available relatively inexpensively, particularly on the Internet where information abounds.
There are also various golf aids available to help improve your swing even when you can't get outdoors.
Check out the major online golf stores and see what they have available, you might be surprised to see the help you can get with very little money down.
Also consider getting some good tapes to help you with mind control as all things being equal, the person who has the top few inches of their head in the right place on competition day will always win.
